no knead bread

$0.54 recipe/$0.27 loaf

***Scroll to the bottom of the page to see what I’ve found to work best after multiple experimental batches since the original post.***

I’ve had a science experiment going on in my kitchen over the past few days and I’m finally ready to reveal the results. I’ve been making a batch of No Knead Bread. You’ll see why it was such a science experiment in a bit…

If you do any sort of perusing the web for recipes then you’ve surely seen 5 minute a day no knead bread recipes. Although I’m sure this method has been around for centuries, it has recently been popularized by the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I’ve been skeptical of the method and have wanted to try it for some time. After all, how good could the texture be with no kneading? Well, it’s INCREDIBLE! No joke. The texture is right, the crust is superb and because I let my dough sit in the fridge for two days, it had a great sour dough flavor.

No Knead Bread

Before beginning my experiment, I read a few recipes/reports from other bloggers and I watched the how-to youtube video made by the authors of the book. For the best results, the recipe suggests baking on a pizza stone. Although I’ve wanted one for some time, I haven’t wanted to plop down $30 for one.

That’s when I remembered seeing Alton Brown using a $1 unglazed quarry tile that he purchased at a hardware store for the same purpose. So, I hustled down to the Home Depot by my house to get one. Unfortunately, the only unglazed stone tiles they had were HUGE travertine that wouldn’t fit in my oven and slate. I had read reviews about using slate for baking stones and some warned against using it because it can break apart due to it’s layered composition. But, I bought one anyway… bad idea.

Don’t use slate for your baking stone! Mine broke the very first time. It didn’t just break, it burst quite forcefully. Luckily, it didn’t explode into a bunch of pieces and shatter my glass oven door. Oh, and some flaked off onto the bottom of my crust. Let this be a warning.

Using a baking stone is supposed to give a great crust on the bottom but since my make-shift stone failed and I don’t have money for a real one, I will try a regular baking sheet next time. I will post an update when I do this (probably this weekend).

The other piece of info that is crucial to making this bread so fantastic is steam. Placing a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven as it preheats then pouring a cup or so of water in when you put the bread in will fill the oven with a nice bit of steam. The steam acts on the surface of the bread making the most wonderful crust. And if you ask me, bread is ALL about the crust. Oh, another warning here: don’t use glass for your water pan. Throwing cool water into a 400 degree glass pan can make it shatter.

Anyway, those few points aside, the bread was super easy to make and I will without a doubt have a batch of dough in my refrigerator at all times from now on. I don’t have roomies so I halved the recipe and made a small loaf. Double the quantities below if you want enough to make two full sized loaves.

In a large bowl, bucket or pot combine the flour, salt, yeast and water. Stir with a spoon until all of the dry flour has been stirred in. Let this mixture sit, loosely covered, on the counter top for 2 hours.

You can either make bread with some of the dough after the two hours or keep it in the refrigerator to make bread with later. The dough can remain in the refrigerator for up to two weeks so label and date the container.

To make the bread, pull off a portion of the dough. The dough is sticky so dust it liberally with flour before grabbing a chunk. Use a knife to cut it off from the rest of the dough. Flour your hands liberally and shape the dough into whatever shape you’d like (round, long, rolls, anything).

Liberally cover a cutting board or pizza peel (wooden paddle) with cornmeal and place the shaped loaf on it. Let it rise for 45 minutes to one hour. When it’s finished rising, use a sharp knife to make slits in the top to allow the bread to expand as it bakes.

minutes prior to the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Let the stone (if using one) and the water pans heat up with the oven. When the oven is ready to go, slide the risen loaf onto the stone and pour about one cup of water into the water pan below. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the crust is a nice medium brown in color.

Be sure to let the loaf cool before cutting into it otherwise you’ll have a gummy crumb.

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Step By Step Photos

First add the flour, salt and yeast to your container. The book/video suggests using a plastic bucket but I don’t have one (and didn’t feel like going to the store) so I used my large stock pot. Just use something with a lid that will fit in your refrigerator.

Add the water to the container…

Stir it up just until all of the dry flour has been mixed in. No excessive stirring or kneading required!

Cover the container loosely (so gasses can still escape) and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hrs. This is what it looked like after 2 hrs. See how it expanded?

I let my dough sit for 2 days in the refrigerator to develop some flavor and this is what it looked like 2 days later. Kinda flattened out a bit.

When you’re ready to make bread, sprinkle a bunch of flower on the dough and grab a big chunk. Use a knife to cut off however much you want.

Using well floured hands, shape the loaf however you’d like. I kinda wanted an elongated boule or short/fat french loaf. Also, if you don’t have a pizza peel, place the loaf on something smooth and flat that it will slide right off of onto the hot stone. A baking sheet without a rim will also work. Make sure to lay down a good amount of cornmeal under the dough so it will slide.

Put the lid back on (loosely) the remaining dough and refrigerate it up to two weeks!

This is the piece of slate tile that I bought and won’t be using again. I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING SLATE.

This is how I had my oven set up. Baking stone on top rack (on medium level) and water pans below. Again, DO NOT use glass for your water pans. Let the stone and water pans heat up with the oven.

After the dough rises, use a sharp knife to cut some slits in the top. I didn’t make my slits deep enough because the loaf still exploded out the side (you’ll see). The loaf will get about twice this size in the oven so it needs the slits to expand correctly.

When the oven is nice and hot (400 degrees), slide the risen loaf onto the stone and pour some water in the water pan(s). Bake the loaf for 30 minutes or until it is nicely browned on the outside.

This is what happens when your slits are just not good enough. In the bread’s desperate attempt to expand, it will blow out the side somewhere. Kinda looks like a mouth puking something up.

And THIS is what will happen with slate… some flaked off and got stuck in the crust on the bottom. Good thing I noticed. DO NOT USE SLATE

Despite the mistakes, there was still a pretty side to the loaf! Plus, who cares what it looks like when it tastes this good and was this easy and cheap!!!

You’ve GOT to try this bread!

I also found this great youtube video about making bread with a similar method but using a baking sheet instead of a stone… plus this guy is kinda funny.

Stay tuned for my update with a loaf baked on a baking sheet instead of a stone…

UPDATE

After much experimentation, I found the best no-knead loaf is made with the following techniques:

– Making the loaf directly after the 2 hr resting period rather than refrigerating the dough first produces a lighter, fluffier loaf with a better “crumb.”

– Baking the loaf in a 450 degree oven, rather than 400 makes a better crust.

– I found that skipping the steam bath produces a better loaf. Instead, I brush the crust liberally with water prior to putting it in the oven.

– Because my stone cracked during this first trial, I started baking it on a baking sheet with parchment paper and cornmeal. The bottom crust is not nearly as nice but the bread is still fantastic!

– The crust will never stay as nice as it is right after you take it out of the oven but to keep it as crispy as possible, cover the cut side of the loaf with plastic wrap and cover the rest of the loaf either with a clean towel or a paper bag (to allow air flow and prevent trapping moisture).

Here is the latest and greatest no-knead loaf so far:

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78 Comments

Hiya!
I’m planning to make this for the first time, but I’m a little confused on one point – it says let it sit for 2 hours, but if you don’t refridgerate it, then the next step on the list is letting it rise 45 minutes.
Is the additional 45 minutes necessary if you haven’t refridgerated it?

I’ve made this a bunch of times now – it’s so tasty and easy it’s addictive. I did find I had some trouble getting a non-gummy crumb at first, but have found that if I plop a tablespoon of unsweetened/natural applesauce in, it works every time. Go figure :)

Dinner rolls? Did someone say dinner rolls? Never even considered that! So for dinner rolls, I’m guessing I would just cut the dough into smaller pieces and shape/cut them. Any idea what adjustments might need to be made to baking time?

I second the opinion of a couple of readers, dutch ovens work fantastically for this type of bread. Also, I find that if I let mine proof for 12-18 hours, it’s extra fluffy and delicious on the inside.

I’ve noticed that this recipe in particular takes longer to brown. I think it’s because the dough is so high moisture and it’s a little more dense that most bread doughs, so it takes the crust longer to dry out and brown.

Your no-knead recipe inspired me to start baking bread! Before trying your above recipe I always thought bread would be “too difficult.” Six months later a fresh, homemade roll is my standard breakfast! I still use this recipe as the base, albeit with my own modifications. I’m not an expert baker, but I keep trying to improve–and it’s a delicious learning process! :)

Along with saying “thank you,” I want to suggest a change. Add honey to the dough! This produces a thicker and chewier crust, which I think improves on the recipe as written.

I mix approx. 1 to 2 Tbsp honey into the amount of water I’m using in the recipe. The water should be warm but not hot; this makes the honey dissolve easily and also helps the yeast “wake up” quickly. (Be careful, boiling hot water will kill yeast. You should be able to put your finger in the water without discomfort.)

I prefer about 1 Tbsp honey because I don’t want to add too much sweetness. But the precise amount is not important. Experiment and see what you like best!

I just made this bread with 1.5 cups whole wheat and 1.75 cups unbleached all purpose- so good! I just used a cookie sheet and the cornmeal gave the bottom a delicious chewy texture. I’ll definitely make this bread again. Thanks!

I’m trying this for dinner tonight, rolls are currently rising. I’m planning to use my stoneware cookie sheet for the bake. After reading through your blog about the slate I thought I might impart a little knowledge about tile. Quarry tile is not tile that is mined in a quarry nor are baking stones generally made of stone. Both of these are sort of misnomers. Quarry is a type of non porus kiln fired tile used in commercial kit hen applications and baking “stones” are actually ceramic “stoneware.” Any peice of tile made of actual stone is likely to fracture when subjected to the heat of an oven, but ceramic bakeware is kiln fired at much higher temperatures than what they see in your oven, thus allowing them to withstand the heat of cooking food, provided, of course, that you heat the stone gradually with the preheating oven.

We had the EXACT same experience with the slate stone. Didn’t want to spend the money, saw the same Alton Brown episode you mentioned… looked for the tiles he mentioned, couldn’t find them, and came home with the same thing. KABLOOOOOOEY!!! Thankfully we heard it snap, crackle and popping as the oven preheated, and my husband quickly grabbed a pair of tongs, and was able to grab it and fling it out he back door (located RIGHT next to the oven) before it completely exploded. It actually continued to pop and crackle and explode in the backyard while it cooled down…

Darcy – I’ve used the no-knead technique for loaf breads and it seems to work out well. If your dough was a little on the wet side, try working in just a little bit of flour when you’re kneading it. That might give it more strength.

I made this bread, and it was absolutely delicious! I must have gone wrong somewhere along the way though, because it did not rise nearly as much as I was hoping, and the bread is fairly flat. How do you think this recipe would hold up in a pan with more structure, like a loaf tin?

I use the New York Times recipe for No Knead Bread (18 hours with no refrigeration) and have adapted it by doubling the recipe and using mixtures of flour (white and rye, white and wheat) and adding “crunchies” like seeds for extra texture. I do not use a baking stone, instead, I use two large Corningware round casserole dishes that I’ve sprayed with Pam baking spray (with flour). Cover with the Corningware tops to bake and remove covers about 15 minutes before the end. Two perfect round loaves every time.

I made this before going to bed last night (about 10:30) and left it on the counter until this morning. I formed it into a freeform loaf and put it on a pizza pan I have (not stone but metal with holes in it) let it rest for about 30 minutes, baked for 30 minutes at 400. It turned out great!! The sourdough taste was great! My husband wants me to make more!! Thank you for sharing!!

Made this last night and I have to say it is the best bread I’ve ever made in my life! LOVE IT! I can’t believe how easy it is to make, how simple the ingredients are, and how incredibly tasty it is. I may have bread with dinner most nights of the week now. Thank you for sharing!

Hi Beth, I am so excited about this recipe. I made it for the first time yesterday and it did take ages to rise, but I guess it was quite cool in my kitchen. When I was a young child, mom used to make ‘stottie cakes’, a flatcake which was soft and chewy in the middle with a crispy crust. Sometimes she made 5-6inch diameter ones or other times she would make one large one. She never had a recipe, her mom taught her how to do it. Dad got a job at a bakery so she stopped making it, and I never did learn how. None of the bakeries sold anything that tasted the same. When I came to Canada from UK I started making my own bread on occasions. I have tried to duplicate her recipe but have never been able to, until yesterday. I made one long loaf but today I have made stottie cakes as well as buns and they are great. Thanks for sharing.

Anon – the yeast can also feed on the carbohydrates in the flour, although it takes longer than if you were to add sugar. That is why it requires a two hour rise time. Also, the dough is quite wet so it rises a lot due to steam in the super hot oven. No knead bread is not as light and fluffy as traditional breads, but it’s super tasty for the amount of work that you put in! The more you make it, the better you’ll get at it (just look at the bottom photo compared to the original one!)

I’m concerned that there is no sugar in this recipe. I thought the yeast needed sugar to make it grow. I made the dough as the recipe says almost 2 hours ago, and nothing is happening. I’ll leave it longer and see if it progresses. Love your web-site, Pat.

Krinajean – Since writing this post I’ve discovered that you really do want to have “instant” yeast rather than “active dry”. Instant doesn’t need to be dissolved in water where as active dry does. So, since you have active dry, you can just dissolve it in the water that gets added. If I remember correctly, some other people had this problem and that fixed it! I hope it works for you!

I saw this the other day and had to try it asap! Bought new “active dried yeast” for the recipe. My problem was it didn’t seem to rise that much? Am I doing something wrong… It was quite warm and humid which I thought would have helped the bread rise? Do I need to dissolve this type of yeast in the water before I add it?It still came out successfully, yummy and ciabatta-esque! Definitely going to have another go!

Claire – Actually, I only use dry yeast! I usually buy a small jar of the instant yeast because that’s where I get the most bang for my buck. I keep it in the refrigerator and it stays good for months. I’m not really familiar with fresh yeast so I don’t know what to suggest… but if you use dry yeast, make sure to use “instant” or “bread machine” yeast because neither of those need to be dissolved in water before adding to a recipe.

Just wanted to stop by and say that this recipe has motivated me to start making my own bread! Well try to, my first batch of dough didn’t come out brilliantly – didn’t rise very well. I wonder if that is because I used quick-action dried yeast rather than fresh yeast? Is it possible to use dried yeast with this recipe?

exciting! I have a lot of marble and granite tiles in my garage (unsealed) and I may have to liberate one of them for making this bread! Sorry about your slate cracking…it was beautiful, if inappropriate. ;)

I followed the tips at the end, specifically brushing water over the dough rather than using a water pan. It caused my pizza stone to break. In retrospect, cold water running off the crust onto a hot stone is not a good idea, and I should have thought of that before. But you should put a warning in for others like me who don’t think ahead.

Well, unfortunately that can happen easily with small variations in measurements or even moisture content of your flour. Next time, try adding a smaller amount of water first and then just add a little at a time just until the dough comes together in one piece. It’s okay for the dough to be sticky but if it’s so wet that it won’t shape, that’s no good :) Good luck!

Hey, first I’d like to say that I love your blog! What an amazing resource, thank you so much for taking the time to share this. I have a question about my dough, for anyone. I followed the instructions exactly, but my dough was a bit runny. I added a little more flour, but maybe not enough. I was wondering why my dough may have been like this, as it made it very difficult to shape. Still tasted good though!

I made this recipe twice so far, each time used half the dough to make rolls and half to make a loaf. The first time I used Gold Medal AP bleached flour and baked at 400. The crust was tough, and the crumb wasn’t as soft as I would have liked.But the second time I used King Arthur AP unbleached, baked at 450, and the bread was OUTSTANDING! The crust was firm but thin, and the bread was so moist and amazing. I’ll probably skip the rolls next time and just make loaves since the crumb was so delicious!

Thank you for sharing this recipe!! I made it this week, and it turned out wonderful! I really loved this recipe, and I plan to make it again this week. I think this will become one of my favorite go-to bread recipes!

Holly – it’s really hard to say without being there to watch you do it. I would test your yeast by putting a 1/2 tsp in a bowl with some water and a pinch of sugar. If it doesn’t get foamy within 5-10 minutes, it’s dead. Also, how long did you let it rise and what was the ambient temp in the kitchen? I find that when I make the bread from dough that’s been sitting in the refrigerator, I need to double the rise time. If your house is really cold, turn your oven on for just a minute or two then turn it off. Place the dough inside and let the little bit of residual heat help it rise.

Other than that, all I can say is to read other comments to see if there is anything that anyone else has suggested that might help. Good luck!

Your recipe inspired me to make that bread the other day but the dough barely rose at all. It was my first time baking bread. My yeast is a few months old and I used slightly warm water (not hot). Any hints or tips as to what I might have done wrong?

I have been making this bread for some time and I have hybridized it with the 18 hour bread recipe. If you are squeamish you won’t like this. I let it sit out over night, similar to real sour dough, before sticking in the fridge per the recipe.I use olive oil (any veg oil), rather than additional flour, to keep it from sticking to the bowl and me. Doesn’t get as dry.For each of the 4 small loaves I choose a different flavor and mix in dried herbs, chunks of parmigiano reggiano cheese, cinnamon sugar, etc., just before baking. The cheese is fantastic! Sugar will burn if you get it on the outside of the loaf.

Actually, I was thinking to myself yesterday that I was going to put my next loaf into a loaf pan! It will probably be next week (because I just made a loaf) but I will definitely let you know how it turns out!

I’ve made this several times now and it is so amazing! I’ve also been experimenting with variations to add some more flavor.I’m wondering if anyone has tried baking this in a loaf pan or if there would be any need to change how long it bakes if I use one? I’m terrible at shaping it into a nice shape and pulling it out of the loaf pan onto the baking sheet makes it loose a lot of the shape.

Storing your yeast in the fridge actually extends it’s life so that’s good. My guess is that your oven temperature is not accurate. That happens more often than people think. Try setting to to 450 and see what happens. I’m thinking about trying my next batch at a higher temp too (to get a better browning of the crust and a lighter texture). The rising in the oven happens because of steam that rapidly expands as it heats up quickly. If you don’t have quick steam formation, you won’t get a big rise in the oven. Quick steam happens with high heat :)

The only thing is though, it barely rose at all in my oven… ?… I store my yeast in the fridge, so maybe that aged it very quickly? The end result was enough for about 3 servings, ha! 3 delicious servings!

Did you use kosher salt? Kosher salt is “fluffier” than table salt so the measurements are usually a little bit different. If you are using table salt, you will only need to use one teaspoon. I should have explained that a little more thoroughly!

I think there might be a typo on the .75 Tbsp of salt. I used that much and the dough was super salty and nasty. I had to add flour and yogurt and sugar and turn it into pizza dough, which turned out great, but the original product made me hate this recipe.

I’ve noticed that too, Tara. I think it has to do with the fact that this is such a high moisture bread. It probably needs to be stored in an actual bread bag (paper or cloth) to allow excess moisture to escape. I haven’t tried it yet though. I’m going to put the question out there to the facebook fans to see if there are any seasoned no-knead bread makers who have figured out how to keep their crust crusty!

So I made this over the weekend. Right out of the oven it was delicious!!! (After I let it cool for a while.) But by the second day, it didn’t taste so great. Maybe I’m not storing it properly. I had it wrapped in seran wrap. Any suggestions for a better way?

Yep, “proof” means rise. I’m making more bread today and I’m realizing why my rise time may not have been enough. I made my bread from dough that was in the refrigerator which means it was really cold when it started to rise. The first half hour of the rise time it was probably just coming to room temp rather than actually rising!

Due to this dough’s wet nature, it rises quite a bit more in the oven than regular bread anyway (it’s almost half steam risen, half yeast risen). So, I think no matter how much you let it rise prior to cooking, it will still get quite a bit larger in the oven and need fairly deep slits. We’ll see today!

I’ve found that the perfect pan for holding water is the roasting pan that came with the oven. It’s a little deeper than a cookie sheet, so I usually pop it in the oven while preheating with extra water so it’s producing it’s own steam by the time the bread goes in. Not as dramatic as throwing water on a hot pan, but it seems to work.

I made this today and I used a baking sheet because that’s what I had. The loaf is cooling on my stove right now. The hubby and I already broke off a couple of pieces. WOW it’s SO yummy. I’m going to save the second loaf to bake off in a few days. I want to try to get a sourdough flavor like you’d said you got..

Beth, this looks awesome & so fun! I have to say, I love seeing how much more adventurous your cooking has become & how many more readers you have as a result since I started reading a year ago! Congrats, and thanks so much for all the love & hard work you put into you blog!

It looks like from the picture that you used a ceramic tile, not a quarry tile, which was probably the problem. I think the key for a baking stone is to use real stone, not a clay (ceramic or porcelain) product.

I’ve made this bread several times and love it. I do have a pizza stone. I picked mine up at a yard sale years ago for $2.I found that I need to add 2 cups of water to the steam pan as 1 cup was always totally absorbed.

I use their gluten-free recipe, found online at their website and in their book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it works great. I don’t bake on a stone, I use the alternate method of baking in a cast iron dutch oven. You can use the fancy enameled ones, or the regular iron-only ones. Saves the whole steaming issue, as the covered, preheated pot steams the bread automagically, and gives a great crust. The instructions are in their book, or in the recipe on their site.

I have the “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” cookbook and it is full of awesome recipes. I like using the King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour for many of the recipes. The seed mixture the authors use also makes any loaf an “Everything” type of bread.

I would suggest 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white. Using all whole wheat can make bread really heavy and dense. Here is a video with the authors of that book making a whole wheat version. The recipe is in the video. They add vital wheat gluten to help with the density problem.

I have the 5 Minutes a Day Book and LOVE it! I have had great success making bread using their technique. Here’s a tip: use unbleached all purpose flour. I got much better results when I switched to the unbleached four. Your loaf of bread is beautiful!

Hi! I’m Beth…

As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. This is my web log of good food cooked with little cash. My stomach is full and my wallet is too. Read More